Home Assistant has been nailing each release, and the team doesn't look as though it plans to slow down with the June update taking shape and the open beta already available on the respective beta branch. There's a fair amount to unpack with this update, but one of the more notable improvements is how dashboards can be configured with fewer prompts to add ... well, anything, to the home screen. Before this latest beta, you'd have to pass through multiple parts of a rather hectic dialog window to achieve the same result, but it's massively overhauled for Home Assistant 2026.6.

Adding cards has never been this easy

Home Assistant just got more user-friendly

Making Home Assistant easier to use has been the focus of the development team for a while now. We've seen serious progress made with automations, which are now drastically less daunting to use, even if you're just getting started with the open platform. Then there are the dashboards, which can also be a point of contention when the learning curve may seemingly quickly steepen out of nowhere. Previously, adding a new card would open a dialog window with all the building blocks, title, entities, button, gauge, glance, markdown, and more. It's overwhelming, unless you know precisely how everything works.

One of the first things a newcomer to Home Assistant may do is customize the dashboard. It is, after all, where they usually end up when connecting to Home Assistant on the official app or desktop browser. Adding something simple like a light switch to the dashboard could take as much as 20 minutes if you had to reference what each part of this dialog entailed. That's no longer the case with Home Assistant 2026.6. Gone are the troublesome card adding blocks, replaced by a more seemingly obvious experience with the focus on entities. Since adding new cards, you already usually have a device in mind.

Like the automations overhaul, this new addition dialog window features two tabs at the top, allowing for everything to be handled by entity or cards, as was traditionally the case. Below this section is the entire home on the left side panel, populated with floors, areas, devices, and entities. The right area then shows a live preview of cards that actually fit this specific selection. For instance, a light switch may have a toggle, brightness slide, or even a temperature setting, depending on the supported bulb and its features. It's a little more obvious as to what can be added to the dashboard, much like smartphone widgets, with a preview.

As mentioned already, this is part of continued efforts by the team to make the entire platform easier for beginners to pick up and use.

Home Assistant now listens to infrared devices

OK, this one is also pretty cool

It feels like only yesterday Home Assistant added support for infrared devices, specifically the ability to send signals and commands to TVs, air conditioners, and other hardware. The issue with this implementation was that there was no way for Home Assistant to know what that particular device was doing. Once the command was sent, it was down to someone with a pair of eyes to spot what that air conditioner was then set to. Just like a standard TV remote, there's no feedback or confirmation on the remote that something is happening, other than a command was sent with a flashing LED, if you're lucky.

That's all changed in 2026.6 as Home Assistant now listens on the same channel, using the same hardware. ESPHome is the first transmitter integration, so any ESPHome device with an IR receiver can now be connected through Home Assistant as an IR listener. If you're lucky to use LG Infrared for a branded device, it's the first device integration to use it, exposing commands the receiver sees as events that can be reacted to. Why this is a big deal is that it allows Home Assistant to both be in sync with the original remote and transform any old IR remote into a Home Assistant controller.

Automations continue to improve

Yet more changes for making things happen

A huge part of Home Assistant is the automated stuff that can be configured to tackle much of the mundane work. I've already gone over the team making progress through substantial changes being made to automations and how they're created and managed, but they've gone one step further with this release. Each and every purpose-specific trigger and condition now has a dedicated reference page with examples, options, and small details to help explain what everything does when creating the ultimate automation puzzle. Before 2026.6, it was also difficult to see just how many things automation targeted.

Now, Home Assistant will show the number of entities each floor, area, device, and label pill in automation rows expand to. This will also reflect any filtering in place, which can be handy when you're attempting to narrow down specific actions and what they will touch when run. Instead of guessing the number of bulbs that will turn on when "all downstairs lights" is activated, Home Assistant will clearly show just how many will be turned on. If you're still stumped, notes can be added to any step within each automation. This is also great for when less tech-savvy family members may need to check or make an edit should something stop working.

But wait, there's more

Digging around the beta a little more, there has been substantial work done to the media player, which should help transform the tile into a real remote, instead of being something you occasionally interact with but struggle to achieve similar success as a native control widget. For instance, the tile will now sport a mute button, so playback can be halted immediately. Z-Wave smart locks are now supported, so they can be added and managed through Home Assistant without ever firing up the official lock app.

Finally, the Apps dashboard has been renovated. Previously known as add-ons, this is where Home Assistant can be extended beyond what integrations can offer. Think media servers, VPNs, code editing, file managers, and more. It's fantastic to see more work be done to polish these administrative areas. Speaking of administering Home Assistant, there were also a few new integration additions to the list, including Cielo Home, Mitsubishi Comfort, and Vistapool.

Home Assistant 2026.6 will be released to the public on June 3.